Questions
by spotty-bee
Summary: Dick wants to know more about his new sibling.  Warning on the inside.


Now, this may not be as comic book Batman some of you would want, but I will have elements from the comics more so then anywhere else.

Ok, seeing as how you made it this far I suppose I should explain.. This fan fiction is a bit off from the usual derailment.. Ever read the usual bat family story? Now have you read one where they are animals? Well this kind of combines the two into humans with animal features...

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You see that back button on top of your web page, go on and leave if you don't like the sounds of this.

I wrote this to be cute and because it refused to leave me!

I think I got another cavity writing this..

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><p><strong>The present was an egg laid by the past that had the future inside its shell.<strong>  
><strong>-Zora Neale Hurston <strong>

Bruce Wyane, the Batman, was always a loner. Void and empty at his upper class social gathering, inattentive to beautiful female escorts, locked away and foreboding to his fellow heroes.. Sometimes even Alfred himself found it hard to coax Bruce out of his wallows in thought for a simple conversation.. Indeed Bruce Wyane was surrounded by people, but one could never have seemed more alone..

That is, unless you got past the formal area of his cave to his real home.. It was gothic, but elegant. While being comfortable and modest it was still fancy and extravagant. Yet there was one thing deep in the most secretive part of the bat's cave that one would not expect to find…

Dick pranced around the cave, pressings buttons on console of the Mainframe computer. He saved and exited out of his adoptive father's crime files and opened up a computer game for drawing. He scribbled around on the tablet, stopping to look at his work, the kept going… He remained there a few more moments… then looked to his father.

The man looked relaxed an deep in a meditative state, stilling on a nest of blankets and twigs, his cape spread to the edges of the cloth, hiding his body from view.. Dick hopped from the chair, now board of his drawing, and to his father's side.. Bruce opened an eye.

"What is it, Dick?" He asked calmly, watching his robin sidekick stand beside him.

"Are you done yet?" He asked, giving a tired look. "I wanna go on patrol.."

Bruce rolled his eyes behind his cowl. "No, Dick. We can't go on patrol until it hatches."

Dick moaned, laying down beside the nest on his stomach. "Why can't Alfred do this?"

"Because he's busy right now.."

The boy glared at the black cape shielding his view of the nest, then back to his father. "You hatched me right? Not Alfred.. Was he busy then to?"

"No, he said I brought you home, so I had to hatch you myself. Just like Jason, and now this one." Bruce frowned. "But he did watch over you and Jason when I had to do patrol."

"Why can't he do it now, Dad?" Dick groaned. "Its boring being stuck here!"

" Don't you think I want to be on patrol to, Dick? I'd love to get Super'mutt' out of my sector as soon as possible..…" Bruce glowered slightly, but it disappeared as he went on. "But THIS is more important right now.. Gotham's safe, your safe, Jason's safe and Alfred's fairing pretty well.. It takes a lot to get Jason to go to bed.."

Dick thought this over a moment, then rolled over to his back, raising his head. He watched the monitor where security footage was showing the house. Jason was currently running around the house, feathers falling everywhere as Alfred attempted to catch him in the most dignified manner her could.

Dick brushed his own feathers absentmindedly. "It still was nice of Superman to watch over the Gotham section for you while you do this.."

Bruce snorted at the thought of the meta mutt flying around his town, showing him up and defeating his criminals. As much as he hated the thought he had other.. duties that needed done.

Dick, ever curious, scooted closer to his father. "Dad.. You didn't come out of an egg, right? You told me that once.."

"Yes, Dick, I'm Chiroptera, I was born, not hatched.." Bruce sighed.

"Chiru-.. Chirp- … That means you're a bat person, right?" Dick asked.

"I'm not a bat person, just like you're not a bird person Dick." Bruce corrected. "That would imply I have bat DNA. We only have accented markings and limbs of these animals that are passed down through generations… You have some robin feathers, Jason has feathers as well, I have my bat wing –"

"Superman has dog ears and a tail." Dick smiled.

"Yes.." Bruce muttered. "Now since robins are birds, that has affected the reproductive cycle of some people.."

"Huh?"

Bruce rolled his eyes once more. "Bats are mammals, so they have a baby after nine months of waiting. Birds have eggs, so the mother isn't expectant as long as a mammal mother, but they watch over the egg." He eyed his eldest child as the boy began playing the edges of his cape. "Both take nine months, but the egg arrives about the third month, and must be kept warm the remaining six."

"Six months!" Dick exclaimed dramatically. "You only got it a month ago! We can't go on patrol for another five months!

"Dick, I did bring your sibling home a month ago, but it 'arrived' long before that.." Bruce shifted. "it should be born any day now…"

Dick now eyed the black veil in interest… He took the edges of the cape and began to lift it up.

"Dick."

The boy pulled back, letting the cape fall from his hands.

"What are you doing?" Bruce asked, watching the child.

The boy played with his fingers, somewhat embarrassed at being caught.. "I.. I wanna see the egg.."

Bruce shrugged. "Alright, you could have ask, you know. I wouldn't be mad..

Dick hopped up as his father pulled the cape back, and lifted something from his lap.

The boy looked at the egg, blinking in surprise. He hadn't been interested in Jason when he was an egg, so he hadn't really seen one before. It was the size of a baby, maybe a little smaller; it was a pale yellow and seemed to glow in the light. The boy reached forward with a tentive hand, looking to his father. The man nodded, and that was all Dick needed before he gently touched the shell.

It was warm… but not too warm. A cozy warm, as Dick expected it would be, after all Batman's cape was a geothermal blanket. What surprised him was that the egg was actually somewhat bumpy, not the silky smooth he had expected. It was still soft and velvety, but he could still make out small impressions in the egg that wer in a pattern. Dick drew his hand over it, pausing when he felt something from inside. It was like a little heart beat.

The egg suddenly moved and Dick yanked his hand back, looking up at his father in awe. The man gave one of his rare laughs, and set the egg in his lap once more, but left the cape in place so Dick could still see it. Bruce quieted to a slight chuckle before speaking. "It seems we woke it up.."

Dick stared at the egg, then to his father. "Dad… why is the egg here? Not with it's mommy and daddy?"

At this question Bruce grew quiet.. He sighed in a way that seemed older than his years. In the community today people usually kept their children away from the public eye until they were old enough to at least go to school, that was when the government started to list them. This was because anything could happen to them before that point.. The world had more dangers then just criminals, the cities were still wild and children could go missing… which was more often than not, sadly. Sometimes they were taken by the monsters that roamed these woods.. Sometimes children just passed away due to sudden illnesses that were yet to be cured or they fell from a great high.. Eggs could be still bore.. This happened so much and the pain was too great to speak of, so it was a norm to not reveal your children until the government approved age for schooling...

Yet then that opened the door to allow a much.. darker truth..

"It was abandoned when I found it, Dick…" Bruce explained, knowing full well it was just luck he had stumbled upon it in time.

Dick frowned. "Why? Didn't it parents want it?"

"I can't be sure what happened Dick.." Bruce explained… but he sure as hell was going to get on it as soon as the baby came and find out.

"Was it sold..?" Dick asked quietly. He quickly noticed how ridged his father had gone. He looked up at the cowled face, finding it glaring down at him. The boy gulped.

"Where did you hear about that." The man snapped angrily.

Dick flinched at the voice, and he suddenly realized how interesting the pebbles by his feet were… "I..I.." He knew he had to admit to his wrong doings, as the fact was so blatantly obvious. "I was.. reading your case files again.."

The man's glare grew sharper as he narrowed his eyes. "Didn't I tell you not to do that!" He frowned. "Dick, there are some things on those files you shouldn't know about! Your too young!"

"I'm sorry.." Dick frowned, rubbing his hands together.. He lifted his gaze from the ground. "So.. was it.. sold?"

Bruce rubbed his eyes as one of the darker truths arose from this subject.. Eggs were usually precious things, unborn children who needed protection… Everyone could respect that, even if they were mammals. When eggs were still bore they were sometimes given to the scientific community for research.. Yet demand was high and many parents wanted to give funerals to their still bore.. So some doctors and scientist would buy living eggs from uncaring parents or kidnappers to use… Bruce never liked any of the following details he had to report after that point…

"I don't know Dick.." Bruce sighed, his anger dissipating. "It didn't seem that way.. but I don't want you going through my case files.. We'll talk about this later.."

Dick nodded.. he looked at the egg once more that his father was holding protectively. "Dad.. how long can an egg last without someone keeping it warm?" Dick looked up to his father. "I mean, it must not last long if we can even leave on a patrol.."

"Not very long Dick. In a nest, covered and properly warmed already it can last about six hours.. but since its so close to hatching I don't want to leave it. " Bruce said.

"Where did you find it…" Dick asked.

Bruce shook his head. "In a very cold place Dick.. it wouldn't have lasted more than an hour out there.."

Dick looked at the egg, now somewhat sad.. It was hard to imagine something so young and helpless being left all alone, to survive on its own.. The boy remembered the warm, tiny heartbeat .. He was somewhat frightened to think of the egg , cold and lifeless.

The egg chose the moment to move again.. It seemed to shiver. Bruce quickly took notice and pulled the cape closed, to keep the warmth from escaping.

Dick blinked watching father do this.. Then as the man leaned forward, picking Dick up. The boy gasped, but didn't resist as he was pulled under the cape. The eight year old was settled at his father's side, where he snuggled into the fabric. It was warm and comforting in the darkness of the cape and he felt a sudden sleepiness come over him.

Bruce rubbed the young robin's back as the boy started to drift off to sleep. Bruce, having read several books and websites on the matter, knew children liked to get in the nest with the parent and egg as it was a comfort. Bruce normally didn't allow it, as the boys never usually fell asleep in the nest, they just liked to monkey around in it.

Yet he smiled as he felt Dick lay down under his cape for some sleep..

It was then Alfred arrived, a sleeping Jason in hand. "Good evening master Bruce." He wheezed slightly, his bowtie askew and looking disheveled.

"Alfred."

"I am here to collect Master Richard for bed.." Alfred paused, looking around. "Where is Master Richard?"

"I just got him to sleep for you Alfred." Bruce said, lifting child out of the nest and into Alfred's arm.

"Ah, thank you sir. I dreaded having to do another rush around." Alfred said, managing both boys in his arms at once. "And how is the child?"

"Fine." Bruce stated.

"Very good then, I suppose I'll take these two to bed then." Alfred nodded. "Do see that both you and the tot get to bed at a reasonable time sir."

Bruce nodded, watching his butler make his way upstairs to the bedrooms with the two birds in hand. Bruce huffed slightly and looked down at the egg in his arms. "You should hatch soon, or all of us are going to go crazy being cooped up here.." He mumbled, but the egg, of course, gave no response..

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><p>If I get enough responces I might write more.. even if the story is kinda weird, I liked writing it.<p> 


End file.
